8/7/24 Update: Final update review from me, the game has lost over 90% of its playerbase and despite "listening" to the community the game continues to stay unlisted for the 170+ countries with the initial sony debacle, so everyone who was singing praises you all got played. FURTHERMORE... The newest nerfs on flame weapons on top of selling a fire-based warbond seems very dirty. Even if you ignore those two things, the game still has a real problem churning out new, interesting content period.

In the end, I got my money's worth of about 200 hours of gameplay. For a budget title, it was certainly worth it if you enjoy this kind of game and have friends who will play it with you. It could have been so much more, so it will stay downvoted from me. 8.5/10 at launch, 6/10 from me now.

5/6/24: Sony has bent the knee to the community and the PSN requirement is now dropped, however two facts still remain: The balancing rationale and how its treated generally is extremely poor using the exact same methods as World of Warships, a game that is already renowned for its poor balance by its skilled playerbase. The second is the community managers' bloodlust and hatred for its own community under the censorship and toxic progressive political values which CMs across all western gaming almost universally experience. The latest incident has shown their true colors once more, receipts are all over Twitter.

Until at least the former is changed (balance), this review will remain negative.


Additional note 5/4/24: HD2 is also requiring the linking of steam accounts to a PSN account well after launch, and this also will lock out players who come from regions where PSN service isn't available. This is not a good look.

The game at its core is good, but developer team clearly has no clue on how to properly balance the game. They are more concerned with something standing out and being powerful than making the game more fun, and making more options viable at high difficulty. That being said, the downvote here has nothing to do with that and just like my locked thread over this, I will post it here:

I was banned permanently from the Helldivers 2 discord because an openly LGBT moderator most likely (can't say 100% for sure, but they were posting and active as I made my comment plus people who identify this way usually are extremely pro censorship, they are called "purplegion") decided to be offended at my questioning of why should the LGBT community get a cape when no other groups get one. Not even a minute later, I was banned. No warning, no explanation. If simply asking a question about such a obvious bit of preferential treatment is considered "Hate speech" (still waiting on a clearly defined definition but we all know why there isn't one) then frankly people should be made aware of the left-leaning political bias and poor treatment of people within their studio and moderation team.

In a game that talks so much about "democracy", I find this ironic. What's even more ironic is that this is based off of Starship Troopers, a satire that mocks the fascistic nature of the right wing so kinda funny you want your ideology represented in this fantasy regime in the game.

All I can say is, either be FAIR to everyone and let what they are AND believe in be represented on both the left AND right of politics, or let NOBODY get these things. Better yet? KEEP POLITICS AND AGENDAS OUT OF VIDEO GAMES THANKS.

8/7/24 Update: Final update review from me, the game has lost over 90% of its playerbase and despite "listening" to the community the game continues to stay unlisted for the 170+ countries with the initial sony debacle, so everyone who was singing praises you all got played. FURTHERMORE... The newest nerfs on flame weapons on top of selling a fire-based warbond seems very dirty. Even if you ignore those two things, the game still has a real problem churning out new, interesting content period. In the end, I got my money's worth of about 200 hours of gameplay. For a budget title, it was certainly worth it if you enjoy this kind of game and have friends who will play it with you. It could have been so much more, so it will stay downvoted from me. 8.5/10 at launch, 6/10 from me now. 5/6/24: Sony has bent the knee to the community and the PSN requirement is now dropped, however two facts still remain: The balancing rationale and how its treated generally is extremely poor using the exact same methods as World of Warships, a game that is already renowned for its poor balance by its skilled playerbase. The second is the community managers' bloodlust and hatred for its own community under the censorship and toxic progressive political values which CMs across all western gaming almost universally experience. The latest incident has shown their true colors once more, receipts are all over Twitter. Until at least the former is changed (balance), this review will remain negative. Additional note 5/4/24: HD2 is also requiring the linking of steam accounts to a PSN account well after launch, and this also will lock out players who come from regions where PSN service isn't available. This is not a good look. The game at its core is good, but developer team clearly has no clue on how to properly balance the game. They are more concerned with something standing out and being powerful than making the game more fun, and making more options viable at high difficulty. That being said, the downvote here has nothing to do with that and just like my locked thread over this, I will post it here: I was banned permanently from the Helldivers 2 discord because an openly LGBT moderator most likely (can't say 100% for sure, but they were posting and active as I made my comment plus people who identify this way usually are extremely pro censorship, they are called "purplegion") decided to be offended at my questioning of why should the LGBT community get a cape when no other groups get one. Not even a minute later, I was banned. No warning, no explanation. If simply asking a question about such a obvious bit of preferential treatment is considered "Hate speech" (still waiting on a clearly defined definition but we all know why there isn't one) then frankly people should be made aware of the left-leaning political bias and poor treatment of people within their studio and moderation team. In a game that talks so much about "democracy", I find this ironic. What's even more ironic is that this is based off of Starship Troopers, a satire that mocks the fascistic nature of the right wing so kinda funny you want your ideology represented in this fantasy regime in the game. All I can say is, either be FAIR to everyone and let what they are AND believe in be represented on both the left AND right of politics, or let NOBODY get these things. Better yet? KEEP POLITICS AND AGENDAS OUT OF VIDEO GAMES THANKS.